


Good Enough

by Stonyinspirationwriter



Series: The Ava Stark-Rogers Series [8]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angry Steve Rogers, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Daughter Relationship, Father-daughter argument, Fear of losing a child, Feelings of Inadequacy, Future avengers, General Steve Stark-Rogers, Guilt, Guilty Steve, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Old Tony, Older steve rogers, Parent Steve Rogers, Parent Tony Stark, Parental Disapproval, Protective Steve Rogers, Seeking of approval, Stony - Freeform, Superhusbands (Marvel), domestic angst, uncle Bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2016-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-27 02:30:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6266050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stonyinspirationwriter/pseuds/Stonyinspirationwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To save Tony from his captures, Ava stole one of the Iron Man suits and teamed up with the newest Avengers recruits on a suicidal rescue mission. </p><p>Now with Tony back home and on bed rest, Ava and Steve get into a confrontation when she announces that she wants to become a full time Avenger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Enough

**Author's Note:**

> Part of the Ava Stark-Rogers series, which trails the daughter of Captain America and Iron Man. Series can currently be read in no particular order. 
> 
> Sequel "Not Good Enough".

“Do you think this is a game?” Steve’s azure eyes had darkened, dampening their usual warmth, and his soothing voice had become gravelly. “You may have gotten lucky, but that doesn’t grantee you will next time. People die. All it takes is a single moment, a split second of poor judgement, and just like that”, he snapped his fingers, “You’re dead.”

General (Stark) Rogers stood 6ft tall with a youthful, muscular body untouched by age. The grey hair that had begun to mingle with his blonde was the only tell of his age. If not for his tall stature, then his rank or reputation were surely enough to prompt intimidation, especially for a petite girl. But Ava Stark-Rogers knew him as “Papa”, the loving and patient father that gave the warmest hugs,and use to tell her bedtime stories when she was a little girl. Although at this moment he seemed like anyone else other than thing from her Papa.

They’ve argued before, as all fathers and daughters occasionally do, but only over the most mundane of things that were always calmly resolved. Steve always listened to what Ava had to say and Ava knew when to forfeit. However, Ava announcing that she wanted to officially join the Avengers had set Steve off. He had built an uncompromising wall around the subject, which only succeeded in adding to her persistence.

In contrast to the original Avengers that were watching this exchange with solemn expressions and stoic stances, the newest Avengers watched from a distance, uneasy and a bit frightened by the legendary Captain America’s daunting presence.

“Do you really think that I don’t know that?” Ava said, an incredulous expression on her face. “Well, I assure you, Death and I have been acquainted. There’s only one person that knows the Iron man suits better, and that’s dad. I was practically working on them since I was a kid!”

“And we’ve talked about this”,Steve said irritably. “You don’t need to be out in the field. What you already do is enough”

“I can do both”, Ava insisted. “Train me”. She turned to Bucky. "Uncle Bucky can train me in combat.” Bucky raised his eyebrows, cautiously watching Steve’s reaction. “And there’s Dad and– “

“No”, Steve said, abruptly cutting her off. “I’m not putting you in danger. End of discussion.” He clipped the sentence with a note of finality.

Ava was taken aback. After a moment of recovery she said, “What about them?” Ava gestured to her friends and would-be-teammates. “You have no trouble allowing them to risk their lives!” They visibly shrank under Steve’s gaze, frantically shaking their heads in denial of being in any sort of agreement with her.

Steve clenched his jaw. “Don’t twist this around.”

“And what about Daddy?” It was like all the air was sucked out of the room. The mention of his husband was the chink in Steve’s armor and Ava knew it. “You’re still angry at me for stealing the Iron man suit”, she stated. “I’m sorry but I couldn’t idly stand by and let him be killed. I wouldn’t have ever forgiven myself.“

Steve’s expression was filled with remorse. Tony had been taken captive,and God knows they were this close to losing him. After a near suicidal rescue mission that could have claimed Ava’s life as well, Tony was alive and back with them, but seriously banged up and confined to bed rest. And Steve was left with a pressing guilt.

“Can you seriously look me in the eye and say that you wouldn’t have done the same?” Ava continued on. Steve turned his back on her, concealing his expression. After a silence that seemed to last an eternity, he turned back to her, but to her surprise, his expression had turned to steel.

“You could have gotten him killed”, Steve accused. “Gotten you both killed.” Steve pointed to the young Avengers. “Put them in danger.” Steve took a step forward and Ava took a step back. “You acted recklessly and childishly without any regard for others.”

Ava felt like she had just been slapped. “Wow”, she exhaled on the word. "How can you seriously say that to me?” Anger spread through her body, flushing her cheeks. “Should I have been more like you?” She spat. “Nothing at all?”

“Ava!” Bucky hissed.

"I won’t allow you to put others in danger”, Steve darkly murmured, looking her straight in the eye. "You will never be an Avenger, it’s time you get that through your head.”

Ava opened her mouth to respond but was at a complete loss for words. She felt much smaller and completely exposed for everyone to see. Her eyes began to water and she wrapped her arms protectively around her middle.

“It’s funny”, she gave a humorless laugh. “You’d think having two Avengers as parents would actually count for something. All this time wasted trying to make you both proud. God, I’m such an idiot.”

All of Steve’s anger had then drained from his face and the warmth had been restored to his eyes. “Ava, I–”

“No”, she waved him off. “I’m sorry I’m not strong, or powerful enough for you. I’m too weak, too human, and that’s all I’ll ever be to you. Well thanks for your honesty, Papa. Now I can stop trying so hard.”

“I didn’t— “ Steve started, but Ava turned on her heel and hurried out of the room. He moved to follow her but Natasha placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t.”

“But I didn’t…I wasn’t…” Steve stammered, completely distressed.

“Let her be for now”, Natasha said. “Give her a chance to calm down and then talk to her.” Steve ran a hand through his hair, staring after Ava with a pained expression on his face.

Bucky turned to the young onlookers."You can leave now", he said tersely. They immediately dispersed, relieved to finally be able to exit the awkward situation, but also in fear of Bucky.

Once Ava was out of sight she allowed the tears to freely fall. Realizing that someone may follow her, she broke into a sprint down the hall, eyes blurred by tears. She hadn’t gone too far before she nearly collided into Tony. When he saw her face his eyes filled with alarm.

“Ava?” He brown eyes probed her face in search of an explanation. “Sweetheart, what happened?”

Her daddy’s sympathetic expression, the fresh bruises and scars on his body, and the limp in his step were all too much for her to take. With a loud sob she hurried past him, picking up speed as she went. Completely ignoring him as he called her name.

**Author's Note:**

> Same Steve depicted in "As Time Goes By", except for a few years younger.


End file.
